Current Astronomy News

  • Spring into Spring

    Yes folks, it is spring! Technically, we reached the vernal equinox on Thursday March 20 at 5:01 EDT. This is when the Sun, which follows a path called the ecliptic, crossed an imaginary line above the equator called the celestial equator. It is also the day when there is an equal amount of daylight and…

  • That’s a wrap! The March 2025 Total Lunar Eclipse

    The March 2025 Total Lunar Eclipse has come and gone. Here are photos (and one video) of the eclipse from several FAS members. Images Credit: Lewis Weinstock Images Credit: Joe Haberthier Seestar Images Credit: Bruce Gavett Re-stacked and enhanced Seestar Images Credit: Bruce Gavett Images Credit: Tina Kelley (Special Guest) Video Credit: Bill Rankin For…

  • Happy Pi Day!

    Happy Pi Day everyone! Here is an astronomy blog we wrote a few years ago (Happy Pi Day and The Hierarchy of Numbers) and an article from the folks at NASA (How Many Decimals of Pi Do We Really Need?)

  • New Moons for the Solar System

    It is very difficult to keep up with the number of moons in our Solar System. On March 10, 2025, it was announced that Saturn has 128 NEW moons. Not just a total of 128, but 128 new moons bringing its total number of moons to 274. These are not huge moons like the Galilean…

  • That’s a wrap! A night of observing the stars at Pilot Mountain (February 28, 2025)

    Finally, the clouds cleared and the weather held steady. We made it up to Pilot Mt. State Park. Around 200 people joined us for a close up view of Venus, Jupiter, and several other celestial objects. Many of the Winter constellations, including Orion, were visible. There was also a planetary alignment when seven planets were…

  • SPHEREx

    The Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (aka SPEHREx) is about ready to take off. SPHEREx is a new entry into NASA’s space telescopes that began with The Great Observatories. While the James Web Space Telescope (JWST) and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) focus on specific targets, SPHEREx…

  • A Total Lunar Eclipse (March 13-14)

    On the evening of March 13-14, there will be a total eclipse of the Moon. A lunar eclipse is not as spectacular as a solar eclipse, but it is still interesting to see the Earth’s shadow make its way across the Moon until we see the reddish glow from a “blood moon.” You will have…

  • Asteroid 2024 YR4

    Recently there has been a lot of news about asteroid 2024 YR4. Evidently there is a small chance that its orbit will intersect with the Earth in 2032. We at FAS thought it would be appropriate to provide you with updates on this potential event so that you can decide to either take your telescope…

  • Pluto Discovered 95 Years Ago

    In case you’re keeping track, everyone’s favorite ex-planet (or still 9th planet) was discovered 95 years ago on February 18, 1930.